World Helps Turkey And Syria In Rescue Operations After The Destruction By A Deadly Earthquake

World Helps Turkey And Syria In Rescue Operations After The Destruction By A Deadly Earthquake

Paris, France - Countries around the world mobilized rapidly to send aid and rescue workers on Monday after a massive earthquake killed more than 4000 people in Turkey and Syria.

Offers of assistance came from countries across the world. Here are some of the chief pledges of support.

European Union - The European Union has mobilized 10 search and rescue teams for Turkey after the stricken country requested EU assistance, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and EU crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarcic said.

The EU’s Copernicus satellite system has been activated to provide emergency mapping services, it said adding the bloc was ready to support those affected in Syria too.

United Nations

The UN General Assembly observed a minute of silence in tribute to the victims.

“Our teams are on the ground assessing the needs and providing assistance. We count on the international community to help the thousands of families hit by this disaster, many of whom were already in dire need of humanitarian aid in areas where access is a challenge,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

India

Two of India’s National Disaster Response Force teams comprising 100 personnel with dog squads and equipment were ready to be flown to the affected area, the foreign ministry said. Doctors and paramedics with medicines were also being readied.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “anguished” and “deeply pained” by the deaths in Turkey — with whom India has frosty relations — and Syria.

United State

US President Joe Biden said he was “deeply saddened” by the loss of life. US teams were “deploying quickly to begin to support Turkish search and rescue efforts”, he added.

National security spokesman John Kirby said the United States was sending two search-and-rescue teams of 79 people each, while the Pentagon and USAID were coordinating with their Turkish counterparts.

Germany

Germany — home to about three million people of Turkish origin — will “mobilize all the assistance we can activate”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said.

Germany’s Federal Agency for Technical Relief “can set up camps to provide shelter as well as water treatment units”, she said. Generators, tents and blankets are also being readied.

Russia

President Vladimir Putin promised to send Russian teams to both countries in telephone calls with Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“In the nearest hours, rescuers from the Russian emergency ministry will take off for Syria,” the Kremlin said. The defense ministry said 300 military personnel deployed in Syria were helping with the clear-up effort.

Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his war-torn country was “ready to provide the necessary assistance to overcome the consequences of the disaster.”

Greece

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, prime minister of Turkey’s historic rival Greece, whose relations with Ankara have suffered from a spate of border and cultural disputes, pledged to make “every force available” to aid its neighbor.

Athens is sending rescuers and supplies on a military plane.

Israel

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had approved the sending of aid to Syria — whose government does not recognize Israel — after receiving a request through diplomatic channels.

The government will also send humanitarian assistance to Turkey, he said.

However, a Damascus official denied they had requested help in the first place.

NATO

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg voiced “full solidarity” with ally Turkey, saying he was in touch with Turkey’s top leadership and “NATO allies are mobilizing support now”.


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